Navi Mumbai: A 41-year-old man has lost Rs 52.87 lakh to scammers in prepaid online task fraud in around ten transactions. According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai. On March 22, the victim received a WhatsApp message on his phone from an unknown woman informing a lucrative earning opportunity by doing hotel booking rating prepaid tasks.
On March 24, the victim agreed to complete online tasks after which the scammers shared a link with him after which the victim clicked the said link and performed online tasks after which he got a profit of Rs 700 which reflected in a web page shared by the scammers.
The scammers then made the victim join a Telegram group on which other members of the group were sharing information related to the prepaid online task. The victim then completed 60 prepaid online tasks after paying Rs 10000 on which he got a profit of Rs 5790. From April 02 till April 06, the victim ended up paying Rs 52.87 lakh in prepaid tasks in ten transactions and Rs 58.25 lakh profit reflected in the web page.
The victim then withdrew Rs 1 lakh from the web page and when he tried to withdraw the remaining amount, he was unable to do so. When the victim asked the scammers to withdraw his money, he was asked to pay Rs 30 lakh only then he would be able to withdraw the money. The victim then realised that he had been duped and approached the police to get an offence registered in the matter last week.
The police have registered a case under sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
